Inclusive and accessible physical education: rethinking ability and disability in pre-service teacher education

This paper identifies and explores emergent themes in inclusive PE in the specific context of pre-service teacher preparation programs. Fully inclusive PE encompasses four areas: knowledge and curricula related to ability and disability, teacher attitudes, pre-service teacher education and a reframing of our understandings of multiple perspectives on physical literacy. Fully accessible PE involves material and attitudinal conditions configured to render these programs actually usable by all those whose ‘inclusion’ is intended. Access is, indeed, conceptually implied in ‘inclusion’, however, in practice the latter can easily become more of a slogan naming an aspiration than a realizable state of affairs. Unless an organization or individual brings a universal commitment to access, attitudinal barriers may prevent full inclusion from becoming a reality. The paper uses qualitative case study methodology to examine pre-service teacher education students’ preconceptions about ‘dis’ability and analyses heuristically how pre-service teachers pre-conceived notions of ability and disability may be challenged through an intervention. 21C PE programs can move towards an emphasis on inclusive activities which are not based on traditional conceptions of physical competence, size, shape, appearance and ability, but instead focus on how all bodies can develop fundamental movement skills, functional fitness and physical literacy. The author challenges pre-service students to address issues of accessibility, normative notions of ability, body equity, social justice and inclusion, as well as the need for multiple definitions of physical literacy. The paper is a case study of the specific phenomenon of ‘broadening student teachers’ understandings of ability and disability in PE’ as a necessary condition for preparing students to work in schools where full inclusion may not have been integral to PE policies, programs and practices.     

Hegemonic masculinity in sport education: case studies of pre-service physical education teachers with teaching orientations

Previous research had indicated that pre-service teachers (PTs) with coaching orientations reinforced sexism and masculine bias while employing the sport education (SE) model. The purpose of the current study was to examine whether or not and the degree to which SE delivered by PTs with teaching orientations served to combat or reinforce sexism and masculine bias. Participants were two PTs who taught four SE seasons during their culminating internship. The theory of hegemonic masculinity guided data collection and analysis. Data were collected through formal, informal and stimulated recall interviews, passive participant observation, and document analysis. Analytic induction and constant comparison were used to analyze the data. Findings revealed that masculine bias and sexism were largely combatted and rejected during the SE seasons and that the PTs provided a relatively equitable experience for girls and smaller, less physically able boys. Key reasons for the PTs' success included their liberal views about sport, their willingness to confront the prevailing sporting culture and the fact that they taught elementary-aged children.     

Physical education teacher education in Norway: the perceptions of student teachers

A feature of academic literature on physical education teacher education (PETE) is the expectation that it can and should impact upon student teachers' beliefs and prospective practices in some significant ways. This is despite research over the last 20 years or more alluding to the apparent failure of PETE to ‘shake or stir’ (Evans et al., 1996) what might be termed the (typically conservative and conventional) pre-dispositions of student and early career PE teachers. In this article, we examine the perceptions of PE student teachers in Norway in order to ascertain just what it is that makes them so resistant to change and, for that matter, such infertile ground for sowing the seeds of reflexivity. The study involved semi-structured interviews with 41 PE student teachers from the three routes through teacher education available at Nord University College (Nord UC). Among the main themes identified in the data were the PE students' perceptions of: the purposes (and ostensible benefits) of school PE and PETE as well as the nature of PETE itself (including subsidiary themes of sporting and teaching skills, other ‘competencies’, school placements, mentoring and mentors, PETEs' (physical education teacher educators) teaching styles and the students teachers' relationships with the PETEs). The article concludes that, as far as the students at Nord UC were concerned, the significance of PETE revolved around the programme's efficacy in developing the sporting skills and teaching techniques they viewed as central to their preparation for teaching. The minimal impact of the more theoretical aspects of PETE appeared to be partly attributable to the students' perceptions of PE as synonymous with sport in schools and partly to their particularly pragmatic orientations towards PETE. In this vein, the students viewed experience as the most important, most legitimate ‘evidence’ on which to base their beliefs and practices and were resistant to the ‘theory’ of teacher education, rationalising their tendencies to select the evidence that suited them.     

新课程标准实施与体育教师角色的重新定位

以《体育与健康课程标准》指导思想为依据，指出目前中小学体育教师的角色错位是将体育教师简单地定位在体育知识、技术和技能的施予者，体育教学过程的控制者，课程的执行者。提出《体育与健康课程标准》的实施要求体育教师角色应定位在促进学生全面发展的教育者，体育与健康课程的开发者和设计者，学生体育学习的引导者、合作者和促进者，终身学习者。     

Cooperative learning: a relevant instructional model for physical education pre-service teacher training?

Background: One of the key questions of physical education teacher educators (PETE) programmes refers to whether future teachers are prepared to build knowledge and skills to feel self-efficacious in teaching physical education (PE). This issue concerns the instructional model of teaching used to help PE pre-service teachers to master both pedagogical knowledge and motor skills. According to this twofold challenge, the direct instruction (DI) is mainly used for pre-service teacher training. Beyond this traditional model, other instructional models as cooperative learning (CL) approach arise in the initial PE teacher education. Nevertheless, surrounding attempts at innovation, little information related to the instructor’s role. Under the social cognitive perspective of self-efficacy and instructional competency building, more information is currently expected with regard to the strategies the instructor uses to scaffold the mastery of skills for PE pre-service teachers’ effective teaching.

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to consider whether PE pre-service teachers are trained during short training sessions aimed to discover new physical activities. We examine the influence of a scaffolding procedure (CLS design) on PE pre-service teachers’ knowledge, skills and self-efficacy in comparison to a CL and a DI experience. This leads to consider to what extent this instructional support provided by the instructor would help pre-service teachers to perceive themselves as self-efficacious to teach contents in PE.

Participants and design: After a pre-test, sixty-nine PE pre-service teachers were randomly assigned to one of the three following conditions: CL (14 males and 7 females); CLS (20 males and 8 females) or direct instruction condition (DI; 12 males and 8 females). For the training session a selected CL procedure (Jigsaw) [Aronson, Elliot, and Shelley Patnoe. 1997. The Jigsaw Classroom: Building Cooperation in the Classroom. 2nd ed. Wokingham: Addison-Wesley Educational]) was used to split CL and CLS participants into mixed-sex teams, whereas DI participants practiced the same exercises in dyads. According to the training conditions, the same instructor provided different information to participants along the three 2-hour instructional sessions with regard to: (a) warm-up (DI), (b) CL organization (CL), and (c) scaffolding integrated into a CL implementation (CLS).

Data collection: A Pre-test/post-test design was used to consider PE pre-service teacher’s motor skill, knowledge for practice, and self-efficacy improvements. The post-test also examined participants’ pedagogical knowledge.

Findings: The results showed that the participants in the three conditions progressed on performance, knowledge for practice, knowledge for teaching, and self-efficacy. Although no difference was found in self-efficacy between the three training conditions over time, significant differences appeared on pedagogical knowledge or/and motor skills with an advantage for the CL and CLS participants, respectively.

Conclusion: Although short training sessions dedicated to discovering new sports stay problematic for teacher professional development, implementing CL pre-service teacher training designs would be a relevant alternative. Instructional knowledge would be developed mainly when they have explicitly access to information concerning the teacher intervention. Nevertheless, such a scaffolding procedure integrated into CL training designs would need to be applied repeatedly to various physical activities to have an impact on pre-service teachers’ self-efficacy.     

温州市高校教师健康状况与参加体育锻炼的现状

以温州市高校专职教师为研究对象,采用问卷调查、电话访问和走访调查3种形式对教师的健康状况和参加体育锻炼的情况进行调查.结果发现,温州市高校教师的总体健康水平较差,体育人口数量明显偏低,影响教师参加体育锻炼的主要因素是闲暇时间不足.     

Health education assessment practices used by physical education and health teachers in a collaborative action research

ABSTRACT

Background: The school setting is the ideal environment for encouraging students to adopt health-promoting behaviours (Chong, McCuaig and Rossi, 2018, “Primary Physical Education Specialists and their Perceived Role in the Explicit/Implicit Delivery of Health Education.” Curriculum Studies in Health and Physical Education 9 (2): 189–204. doi: 10.1080/25742981.2018.1452163). Schools are actively supporting the implementation of health education (HE) initiatives, and the potential contribution of physical education (PE) to these initiatives is recognised in a number of countries (Gray, MacIsaac and Jess, 2015, “Teaching ‘Health’ in Physical Education in a ‘Healthy’ Way.” Retos 28 (1): 165–172; Haerens, Kirk, Cardon and De Bourdeaudhuij, 2011, “Toward the Development of a Pedagogical Model for Health-Based Physical Education.” Quest 63 (3): 321–338. doi: 10.1080/00336297.2011.10483684). One of the biggest challenges faced by PE teachers is the assessment of student learning in the area of health (Bezeau, 2019, “L’accompagnement d’enseignantes en éducation physique et à la santé visant l’optimisation de leurs pratiques évaluatives en éducation à la santé.” PhD diss., Université de Sherbrooke; Turcotte, Gaudreau, Otis and Desbiens, 2010, “Les pratiques pédagogiques d’éducateurs physiques du primaire en éducation à la santé.” In Éducation à la santé, edited by Claire Isabelle, Louise Sauvé, and Monique Noël-Gaudreault, 717–738. Montréal: Revue des sciences de l’éducation). These challenges highlight the need for professional development that meets the needs of PE teachers in regard to the health component, in particular in terms of assessment practices (Turcotte, 2010, “Problématisation: l’éducation à la santé et l’éducation physique.” In Faire équipe pour une éducation à la santé en milieu scolaire, edited by Johanne Grenier, Joanne Otis, and Gilles Harvey, 25–48. Québec: Presses de l’Université du Québec). However, teachers report that the professional development provided to better integrate health into PE is ineffective (Alfrey, Cale and Webb, 2012, “Physical Education Teachers’ Continuing Professional Development in Health-Related Exercise: A Figurational Analysis.” European Physical Education Review 18 (3): 361–379. doi: 10.1177/1356336X12450797; Makopoulou and Armour, 2011, “Teachers’ Professional Learning in a European Learning Society: the Case of Physical Education.” Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy 16 (4): 417–433. doi: 10.1080/17408989.2010.548060). In order to optimise assessment practices in HE, the development of training methods that answer the real needs of PE teachers constitutes a potential solution to this problem. In this study, two PE teachers were supported in the operationalisation and appropriation of an innovative problem-solving process aimed at optimising their assessment practices in HE.

Objectives: The objectives of this article are to describe: 1) the operationalisation of strategies established by the participants targeting their assessment practices in HE, and 2) the evolution of these practices.

Method: A collaborative action research (CAR) approach was taken, and four methods of data collection were used: 1) individual interviews; 2) group interviews; 3) participant observation, and 4) logbooks. The data was collected over a 12-month period, overlapping two school years, and then analyzed through content analysis.

Findings: Results suggest that, despite the planning and implementation of strategies considered effective by the participants, their assessment practices in the gymnasium progressed very little, while their practices outside the gymnasium evolved considerably.

Conclusion: If we want to optimise assessment practices in HE, or teaching practices in general, we must put aside the question ‘why,’ and focus on ‘how’ to meet the challenges related to the implementation of this type of professional development. Bringing real change to teaching practices is a long process that requires an investment of time and effort from teachers, and starts with the optimisation of practices outside the learning environment.     

Pre-service physical education teachers' beliefs about competition in physical education

The discourse of competitive sport is, and has been, a defining feature of physical education for many years. Given the privileged and dominant position competition holds in physical education curricula, it is concerning that competitive physical education remains steeped in traditional pedagogies and that these pedagogies are constrained by teachers' everyday philosophies rather than any explicit understanding of pedagogy or the needs of pupils. This in turn affects pupils' experiences of physical education and specifically the type and form of activities that are offered to pupils. Physical education teachers' biographies generally show a profound attachment to sport, and in particular competitive sport, and the value of competitive sport is significant in the lives and identities of physical education recruits. However, there is a paucity of research specifically in relation to in-service and pre-service physical education teacher's beliefs about competition and its place in physical education. It is well documented that the implicit theories that pre-service, beginning and experienced teachers hold influence their reactions to teacher education and their teaching practice, with their beliefs acting as a filter through which a host of instructional judgements and decisions are made. Thus, it is important to understand pre-service physical education teachers' (PSTs') beliefs about competition. Thirty five (16 men, 15 women, 4 unknown) PSTs completed a reflective journal alongside their participation in a University-based module focused on models-based practice. The data generated were analysed using the procedures and techniques of grounded theory which revealed five major themes grouped in the discussion under the sub-categories of: (1) defining competition; (2) learning through competition; (3) competitive physical education and the sporting pathway; (4) competition needs to be got out of children; and (5) a little competition. The discussion challenges how we transform traditional views of competition and the competitive practices that alienate some young people from physical education.     

高校体育教蛹的本色培养

高校体育教师是高校教师队伍的重要组成部分,它在高校教师队伍的建设发展过程中发挥着非常重要的作用。所以,培养体育教师的本色尤为重要。因此,本文结合新时期体育教师的现状,浅谈对高校体育教师的本色培养方案,为构建体育教育事业的万里长城夏对体育文化的传承作贡献。     

复合型体育教师的培养与文化素质教育

为实现学校体育由单纯的竞技体育向健身、竞技、娱乐、康复、生活等一体的全方位育人方向转变,高师体育教育专业应培养合格的复合型体育教师。培养复合型体育教师除应加强体育素质教育外,还应重视文化素质教育。文化素质教育能帮助学生学会做人,为学生启示方向、陶冶情感,帮助其了解世界、了解自己、了解人对社会的责任     

The occupational socialization of German physical education teachers

To date, most of the work on the occupational socialization of physical education (PE) teachers has been completed in the United States and Britain. The purpose of this study was to examine and describe the occupational socialization of German PE teachers who were trained prior to unification of the two German states and worked in both their old nations and the new Germany. The two research questions we attempted to answer were (a) What were the perspectives and practices of West German (WG) and East German (EG) PE teachers? and (b) What factors influenced these perspectives and practices? Participants were five former WG and five former EG teachers. Data were collected using four qualitative techniques (formal and follow-up interviews, document analysis, film snippets) and analyzed by employing analytic induction and constant comparison. Findings indicated that there were distinct and different patterns of socialization for the former German states. The WG group possessed conservative teaching orientations nurtured during their childhood and youth and reinforced during their training and by their school cultures. Perceived changes in German society and culture led to slight modifications of these orientations over the teachers’ careers. Prior to reunification, the EG group possessed a high performance orientation primarily honed by the politics of the state. The perspectives and practices of WG teachers were relatively unaffected by reunification. In contrast, the transition to a new system was emancipating for four of the EG teachers who shifted to a teaching orientation. Conversely, the transition was particularly difficult for one of the former EG teachers who partially retained his high performance orientation and strategically complied with new national requirements.     

学校体育教学中的师生冲突问题及其解决策略——一种社会学冲突理论的分析路径

从冲突理论来看,体育教学中的师生冲突实际上反映了教师与学生对课程权力表达的意愿,以及在教育目标认识上的价值差异,建立教师和学生的课程权力运行、分配机制、表达机制以及管理机制是学校调节和控制师生之间冲突的重要举措。     

我国体育教师培养模式存在的不足与对策研究

现代化和社会化对教育事业的发展提出了更高的要求,体育教师教育是教师教育的重要组成部分,传统培养师资的体制和方法已不能适应社会的要求,因此体育教师培养模式的改革迫在眉睫。     

学校体育与健康教育的结合问题

通过献资料、理论分析、对比等方法对学校体育与健康教育的关系进行研究，提出树立健康第一的指导思想，加强学校体育与学校健康教育的结合，是我国学校体育整体改革的方向，对促进学生身心健康发展和提高学校体育的科学地位具有特殊意义。学校体育与学校健康教育结合亟待解决的问题有更新现念、提高学校健康教育效益等6个方面。     

Understanding the perceived mattering of physical education teachers

Previous research related to occupational socialization theory has indicated that, in certain school contexts, physical education (PE) and physical education teachers are socially constructed as being less important than, or marginal to, the primary purpose of schooling. This research highlights the challenges associated with occupying a position of marginality. Another way to look at the social experiences of physical education teachers is to examine the extent to which they feel as if they matter to those around them. Drawing upon qualitative and quantitative data sources, the purpose of this study was to examine physical education teachers’ perceived mattering. A mixed-methods design was employed, and data sources included responses to an online survey (N?=?105) and individual telephone interviews (N?=?23). Quantitative data were analyzed using 2?×?2 (education?×?teaching level) Factorial MANOVA; interview data were analyzed using analytic induction and constant comparison. Quantitative analyses indicated that teachers with advanced degrees and those in secondary schools perceived a higher level of mattering than those with bachelor’s degrees and teaching in elementary schools. Respondents perceived that PE mattered slightly more than they did as teachers of the subject. Qualitative analysis indicated that (a) relationships were critical to teachers’ mattering, (b) physical location of the gym and isolation contributed to mattering, and (c) PE was viewed as a service to others in their workplace. Perceived matter is dependent upon a variety of factors related to both personal and workplace factors. Enhancing teachers’ perceptions of mattering may reduce feelings of marginalization.     

当前我国体育师资培养中存在的问题及其解决对策

20世纪70年代以来,世界体育师资培养出现了高学历化、在职培养、入职教育和职后培训一体化的新形势,但我国未能赶上时代步伐.以体育教师培养为研究对象,通过与国外发达国家体育师资培养的职前教育、入职教育和在职教育3阶段的比较分析,认为我国现阶段体育师资培养存在体育教师职前培养、入职教育和在职培训相分离,体育教师入职教育形式化,体育教师培养偏离重心,体育教师继续教育的制度不健全、内容不科学等问题.解决现有体育师资培养存在问题的对策包括体系、模式、内容、手段、制度、管理方面的创新.     

Gender encounters: becoming teachers of physical education

Pre-service teachers of physical education (PE) bring understandings about gender and bodies to their university studies. These understandings are partially informed by biographies and experiences and bear potential to mediate learning and processes of becoming teachers. In this paper we explore technologies of power/knowledge and technologies of self that inform understandings of gender and the constitution of PE teacher subjectivities. Data were drawn from semi-structured interviews conducted with pre-service teachers studying at an Australian university. Foucault's theoretical perspectives around the constitution of subjects were drawn on to analyse data. Findings reveal that discursive practices frame particular ‘truths’ around gender and, hence, possibilities for being teachers of PE. Discourses of sport were significant in establishing a male norm for bodies and subjectivities. This was problematic for female participants who also turned to discourses of nurturing in constituting their subjectivities. Implications are raised for PE teacher educators with regard to disrupting hegemonic discourses as means for developing pedagogies for greater justice.     

Teaching values in physical education classes: the perception of Brazilian teachers

The contribution of Physical Education (PE) and School Sport to learning of values has been identified by teachers and researchers. However, we know little about how that teaching takes place during classes. This study aimed to understand the perceptions of teachers on teaching values in their classes and to analyse the conception of values that have guided their professional intervention. To do this, a qualitative study was conducted with a sample of three teachers, using class observations and interviews with the teachers as research tools. For all these teachers, teaching values is a central goal of PE classes; for two of the teachers, it is the main goal. Because of this conviction, their pedagogies prioritize the teaching of moral values over others that can be taught in PE. A belief in the possibility of teaching values in the classroom is part of the habitus of the PE teacher; it can sometimes be characterized as an illusio. For these reasons, teachers can set unrealistic expectations, disregarding their own limitations as well as the conflicts and complexity involved in the construction of value systems.     

从身体的角度看体育的"智识"教育

体育是一种人类特有的身体运动方式,而"身体"作为人的存在的根本维度,与体育运动始终是密不可分的.因此,从"身体"出发,阐述了体育之育的真正目的与效用--开发生物脑体以及发展身体智慧,把体育从"纯粹的无法思想的身体教育"中解放出来,视"身体"为可以思考、充满"智慧"的身体,说明了体育在"智识"教育上的真正意义,从而从根本上脱离了身心"二元论"并有力反驳了"四肢发达,头脑简单"的错误认识,以求让更多的人自觉地投入到体育运动之中,感受体育的魅力,树立起终身体育的观念.     

Healthy bodies: construction of the body and health in physical education

In physical education, bodies are not only moved but made. There are perceived expectations for bodies in physical education to be ‘healthy bodies’—for teachers to be ‘appropriate’ physical, fit, healthy and skilful ‘role models’ and for students to display a slim body that is equated with fitness and health. In teachers’ monitoring of students with the intention of regulating health behaviour, however, the surveillance of students’ bodies and associated assumptions about health practices are implicated in the (re)production of the ‘cult of the body’. In this paper, we consider issues of embodiment and power in a subject area where the visual and active body is central and we use data from Australian and Swedish schools to analyse the discourses of health and embodiment in physical education. In both Swedish and Australian physical education there were discourses related to a fit healthy body and an at risk healthy body. These discourses also acted through a range of techniques of power, particularly regulation and normalisation.